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Residents on Monday questioned the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' handling of July's flooding, while the corps defended itself against charges of both:

• Not releasing enough water from the Coralville Reservoir before the flood.

• And later releasing too much water when there was dam capacity to spare.

Two months after Johnson County endured another summer flood, corps officials and representatives from local governments and the University of Iowa hosted a panel discussion at the Iowa City Public Library.

"I've always said our floods are man-made, because there's somebody controlling something, and that there are times I think something can be done to better control it," Cathy Wilcox, a Taft Speedway resident, told the panelists.

The discussion centered largely around the corps' management plan for the reservoir, which determines the schedule for when and how much water is released from the dam — a schedule that all seem to agree is due to be reevaluated. The plan was last revised more than a decade ago, but the corps' requests for the federal funding necessary to conduct a study have been denied each year since 2010.

Col. Mark J. Deschenes, commander of the corps' Rock Island District, said although an update of the water control plan is "likely the best way to go," the funding hasn't been there. The corps has said a study of the management plans for dams at Coralville Lake, Saylorville Lake and Lake Red Rock would cost a combined $4.4 million.

"Our country is in a bit of an impasse right now with our infrastructure challenge," Deschenes said. "It doesn't matter if you're talking about roads or locks and dams, we're underfunded."

Jim Stiman, a supervisory hydraulic engineer for the corps, said changes in land use, including greater urbanization and the tiling of farm fields, contribute to the need for a new study. Even more, Stiman said Iowa is seeing more flooding events in recent years.

"I think probably everybody is aware that in the last 30 years, it has been wetter in Iowa than the previous 30 years," Stiman said. "So changes in climatology — and you hear a lot of discussions about climate change — those are drivers for taking a look at the water control plan."

Some residents questioned why the corps opted to open the flood gates to release a peak of about 18,000 cubic feet per second this summer, when the dam was only at 80 percent capacity. Others said it seems as though the corps is keeping the lake too high until it's too late.

"Historically, our floods are summer floods; they're in June and July and always have been," said longtime Normandy Drive resident Joye McKusick. "Yet the water levels in the reservoir seem to be controlled by something that would happen earlier than that, with a concern to protect the farmland."

Said Stiman: "One thing I want to stress, the reservoir covers the whole Iowa River corridor and even down to the Mississippi River. We have to take into consideration that whole area — it's not just for one particular area."

Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chairman Terrence Neuzil said he's appreciative of the corps' willingness to deviate from its plan to work with local governments, but those continued deviations show that changes are needed.

"What are some things we can do as a community to say, 'It really is time to get that plan updated; let's look to make sure the decisions we're making are the right ones?' " Neuzil said. "Plenty of us know that when you create the plans and you deviate, you deviate and you deviate, it's probably time to look at that plan again."